Current Affairs Update – 9th February, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 9th February, 2016. These are important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016 Exam.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 9th February, 2016

Union Railway Ministry on 9 February 2016 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ChhattisgarhGovernment
for formation of Joint Venture Companies
for development of railway infrastructure in the state.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai received restricted stock
worth about $199 million, according
to a regulatory filing by Google parent company AlphabetInc .

The Ministry of Coal has approved a proposal to grant a short-term coal linkage to central and state
public sector units which have been allotted Schedule III coal mines. Under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, Schedule III coal mines are
those which require some work or clearances before they start to produce.

International Fleet Review (IFR) 2016 of the IndianNavy was
concluded on 8 February 2016 along the coast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The Chettinad cotton saree in the first week on February 2016 won the India Handloom tag for its
unique designs and identity.

India’s the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and United States Technical Development Agency
(USTDA) were on 9 February 2016 signed
the grant agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II in
New Delhi.

The Operation Rahaat came in news in second week of February 2016 after the Royal Navy of United Kingdom (UK)
presented its desire to officially study
India’s humanitarian rescue operation in Yemen.

After decades of delay and
inaction, the Hindu minority community in Pakistan
will soon have a marriage law as a parliamentary panel has unanimously approved
the Hindu Marriage Bill.

Bidyananda Barkakoty appointed as new vice-chairman of Tea Board

Joshna Chinappa on 8 February 2016 clinched the gold in women’s individual squash after beating MariaToorpakiWazirofPakistan
at the South Asian Games.

Eight scientists on 5 February
2016 received the UNESCO Medals for
their contributions to the development of nanoscience and nanotechnologies
at Paris. The winner of the 2014 Nobel
Prize in Physics, Professor Isamu
Akasaki was among the eight.

Nepal’s former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala passed away on 9
February 2016 in Kathmandu, Nepal due to chronic respiratory problem. He was
76.

Finance/Industry –

Union Government signed MoU with Chhattisgarh for development of
railway infrastructure

Union Railway Ministry on 9
February 2016 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chhattisgarh
Government for formation of Joint Venture Companies for development of railway
infrastructure in the state.

The Joint Ventures with states
for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition,
project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects.

The MoU envisages formation of a
Joint Venture companies having 51 percent stakes of the respective State
Government and 49 percent stakes of Union Ministry of Railways. Thus, the JV
companies shall be fully owned by the Government.

The ministry of Railways will
sign a concession agreement of 30 years with the project SPV for safe and sound
operation, revenue sharing and providing technical & marketing logistics to
the SPV. The revenue sharing shall be based on already established formula
being used for inter zonal apportionment of revenue.

Pichai, who took over in August,
received a grant for 273,328 Class C Google stock units on Feb. 3. The
valuation is based on the stock’s closing price on that date.

On the same day, Pichai sold 375
Class A common shares at a price of $786.28 each, and 3,625 Class C capital
stock at a price of $768.84 each, the filing said.

Ministry approves ‘bridge linkages’ for PSU coal mine allottees

The Ministry of Coal has approved
a proposal to grant a short-term coal linkage to central and state public
sector units which have been allotted Schedule III coal mines.

Under the Coal Mines (Special
Provisions) Act, Schedule III coal mines are those which require some work or
clearances before they start to produce.

The short-term linkages or
‘bridge linkage’ will be given to both power and non-power sector public sector
units. The bridge linkage will fill the gap of coal requirement of the
specified end use plant till the allotted coal mine starts production.

Every plant, which wants a bridge
linkage, will need to apply to the Ministry of Coal. The request will be
considered by the Standing Linkage Committee (Long Term) and thereafter Coal
India or Singareni Collieries Company Ltd shall decide the grate of coal and
source of coal.

About 21 Schedule III coal mines
were allotted to 18 central and state public sector units.

E-commerce giant Flipkart ties up with Hero Cycles

E-commerce giant Flipkart on
Tuesday announced the launch of three new models of Hero Cycles. The company
aims to attract young working professionals and fitness enthusiasts, with its
three new models — Hero Mega Star 26” (18-speed), Studd 26T (18-speed) and
Studd 26T (single-speed), it said in a statement.

The Mega Star is priced at Rs
8,999 the Studd 18-speed at Rs 8,555, while the single-speed version would cost
Rs 6,350.

India –

International Fleet Review 2016 concluded in Visakhapatnam

International Fleet Review (IFR)
2016 of the Indian Navy was concluded on 8 February 2016 along the coast of
Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The 5-day long event was hosted
by the Indian Navy with the theme United through Oceans. It was attended by the
President of India Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The review was aimed at assuring
the country of the Indian Navy’s preparedness, high morale and discipline.

Considered as country’s biggest
military exercise, friendly naval contingents from around the world joined
Indian navy’s ships and submarines.

It saw the participation of 50
navies, 90 ships, including 24 warships and over 70 aircraft. Besides, ships of
Indian Coast Guard and mercantile marine also participated in the review.

Chettinad cotton saree won India Handloom tag

The Chettinad cotton saree in the
first week on February 2016 won the India Handloom tag for its unique designs
and identity.

The Textiles Committee, Union
Ministry of Handlooms and Textiles, Mumbai, registered the Chettinad cotton
saree under the India Handloom Brand Scheme after checking various quality
parameters stipulated by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

The Ministry authorised the
Amarar Rajiv Gandhi Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society, which produced the
sarees, to use the brand and logo for marketing the product.

India’s the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA)
were on 9 February 2016 signed the grant agreement for India Aviation Safety
Technical Assistance Phase II in New Delhi.

The phase II of the project is
aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA
Category 1 status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of
operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general
aviation and business aviation.

World –

Royal Navy of UK to study India’s Operation Raahat

The Operation Rahaat came in news
in second week of February 2016 after the Royal Navy of United Kingdom (UK)
presented its desire to officially study India’s humanitarian rescue operation
in Yemen.

The Royal Navy wants to study the
Operation Raahat in all its details and understand the meticulous planning
process that was followed. It also wants to learn the way the plans were
executed.

Operation Raahat was one of the
most stellar rescue missions ever conducted in a strife-torn area
internationally. It was overseen by Minister of State for External Affairs
General (retd) VK Singh.

Pakistan approves Hindu Marriage Bill after decades of inaction

After decades of delay and
inaction, the Hindu minority community in Pakistan will soon have a marriage
law as a parliamentary panel has unanimously approved the Hindu Marriage Bill.

The National Assembly Standing
Committee on Law and Justice yesterday passed the final draft of Hindu Marriage
Bill 2015, where five Hindu lawmakers were specially invited.

The bill will now be tabled in
the National Assembly where it has fair chances of being passed as the ruling
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is supporting it.

Committee Chairman Chaudhry
Mahmood Bashir Virk expressed regret over the long-drawn tactical delay in
framing family law for the Hindu community.

Bangladesh cancelled Sonadia Island Port Project with China

The place Sonadia Island was in
news on 8 February 2016. It was in news because, as per newspaper reports,
Bangladesh cancelled China’s proposal to develop a deep sea port on the island that
lies in the Bay of Bengal.

Sonadia Island is a small island
of about 9-sq.km offshore of the Cox’s Bazaar coast in Chittagong Division,
Bangladesh.

The island is seen as a potential
deepwater port that could serve the landlocked parts of India, Myanmar and
China.

Appointments –

Bidyananda Barkakoty appointed as new vice-chairman of Tea Board

The Tea Board of India, in its
227th board meeting held today in Kolkata, elected Bidyananda Barkakoty as its
new vice-chairman. Barkakoty’s tenure would begin from April 1, 2016 and would
span till March 31, 2017.

Barkakoty is a mechanical
engineer by qualification and a tea planter by profession having his own
plantations at Golaghat, in Assam.

He is the past chairman of North
Eastern Tea Association (NETA) and held the office for six years. Presently he
is advisor to NETA, an executive committee member of Assam Tea Planters’
Association (ATPA) and also president of Tea Vision, an NGO.

Rajendra K Pachauri appointed as Executive Vice Chairman of TERI

Former Director General of The
Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Rajendra Kumar Pachauri on 8 February
2016 was appointed as the Executive Vice-Chairman of the organisation with the
immediate effect.

On the other hand, Ajay Mathur,
former chief of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, was appointed as the Director
General of TERI.

The post of Executive Vice
Chairman has been recently created and Pachauri will be the first to hold the
post.

Sports –

Joshna Chinappa clinched squash individual gold at the South Asian
Games

Joshna Chinappa on 8 February
2016 clinched the gold in women’s individual squash after beating Maria
Toorpaki Wazir of Pakistan at the South Asian Games.

Top seed Chinappa recovered from
one set down to beat second seeded Wazir 10-12 11-7 11-9 11-7 at the R G Baruah
Sports Complex in Guwahati.

Brij Bhushan Singh appointed as President of South Asian Wrestling
Federation

The South Asian Wrestling
Federation on 8 February 2016 announced the appointment of Brij Bhushan Sharan
Singh as its President.

During the General Body Meeting
of South Asian Wrestling Federation held on 5 February 2016, Singh was
unanimously elected as the president. Tabiur Rehman from Bangladesh was also
unanimously elected Secretary General.

The House unanimously authorised
Singh to appoint one joint secretary from India, a treasurer from Afghanistan
and one executive member from each South Asia Foundation (SAF) countries.

Apart from the two members,
Chawdhury Mohd. Ajgar of Pakistan, U.H. Neville Pdmashri from Sri Lanka and Raj
Mohammed Ansari of Nepal were elected vice presidents.

Awards & Honors –

UNESCO Medals conferred for contributions to development of nanoscience
and nanotechnologies

Eight scientists on 5 February
2016 received the UNESCO Medals for their contributions to the development of
nanoscience and nanotechnologies at Paris.

The winner of the 2014 Nobel
Prize in Physics, Professor Isamu Akasaki was among the eight.

The Medal was established in 2010
at the initiative of the International Commission responsible for developing
the Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies theme for the Encyclopedia of Life Support
Systems (EOLSS).

Prime Minister Shram Awards 2014 announced

Union Ministry of Labour and
Employment announced the Prime Minister Shram Awards for the year 2014 on 9
February 2016.

There are nine nominations for
the Shram Bhushan Award, Nineteen nominations for Shram Vir or Shram Veerangana
and twenty six nominations for Shram Shree or Shram Devi Awards.

Even though, the total number of
Shram Awards is 32, the number of workers receiving the awards is 54 which
Included 3 women, as some of the awards have been shared by workers and/or
teams of workers consisting of more than one worker. These include 36 workers
from the public sector and 18 workers from the private sector.

SHRAM RATNA

This is the highest award (one in
number) among the Shram Awards and carries a cash award of 2 lakh rupees with a
Sanad.

SHRAM BHUSHAN

Total number of these awardees is
nine. It carries a cash award of one lakh rupees and a Sanad.

And Shram Veer/Veerangana awards
carry a cash prize of 60000 rupees and a Sanad. Shram Shree/Devi Awards
comprise of a cash prize of 40000 rupees and a Sanad.

Obituaries –

Former Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala died

Nepal’s former Prime Minister
Sushil Koirala passed away on 9 February 2016 in Kathmandu, Nepal due to
chronic respiratory problem. He was 76.

Koirala was a key figure in
adoption of Nepal’s new constitution in September 2015 with overwhelming
support in the Constitution Assembly.